Upcoming events and ACMA activity: ARCIA reports

We are halfway through 2023 and it feels like there is so much happening in the industry that time is flying by.

Since we last reported we have held several events, including Sundowners and the major one-day event in Perth combining a conference and then our networking dinner. Both the conference and networking dinner were both very well supported by the industry, including ARCIA members and end users. With technology moving at speed across multiple fronts, it is very pleasing to hear so many stories about what is being achieved by commercial and government entities across Western Australia. Congratulations to our West Australian industry members for such an outstanding response to our call to get involved.

ARCIA will be following the same dual one-day format on the east coast and it is now the turn of NSW to host in Sydney, for one day only on 31 May. We are working hard to bring the industry wide-ranging and important topics for public safety and commercial sections of the market.

Make sure you check https://arcia.org.au/events/ for all events as there are now a number of event dates online, including ARCIA training courses. Key events are in Sydney on 31 May, Christchurch on 13–14 June, Brisbane on 27 July, and of course Melbourne Comms Connect on 17–19 October, including the ARCIA annual gala dinner.

New online training courses are being worked in and added to the ARCIA portfolio. We have designed courses for many levels within our industry as we are trying to raise the standards of the entire industry. You will find available courses and dates on the website included in the events pages.

The ARCIA committee and our CEO, Paul Davis, have been busy streamlining and improving the administration of the association. We expect by the end of this year we can improve the membership experience for events, training and general administration.

There is always quite a bit of activity from the ACMA at this time of year. The annual Five-Year Spectrum Outlook (FYSO) has been out for comment and one disturbing point was that at the World Radiocommunication Congress (WRC) there will be some input from Region 1 (Europe and the African continent) pushing for review of the spectrum between 460–694 MHz, with a view to making the band available for wireless broadband. With some comments out of the USA pointing towards some manufacturers ceasing to include frequencies above 470 MHz in future models, this means that we might have some competition for spectrum above 470 MHz in the future. Given the existing status, this will be an issue as in Australia there are still significant numbers of two-way radio systems operating in that area of spectrum.

The ACMA has also decided to move to setting licence fees for apparatus licences relative to population criteria rather than increases in line with CPI. On the examples shown in reports that will probably mean increases of around 1% per annum against the CPI, which is significantly higher in most instances. The ACMA has also flagged that it will be consulting on the existing class licence arrangements for the 4.9 GHz spectrum allocated for public safety; this will happen later this year and our public safety sector should be ready to respond as required.

Finally, the committee and exec would like to thank Madeleine La Ferla, who worked for the last 14 years on producing the ARCIA annual gala dinner. Madeleine made the impossible just work and has been an integral part of this major event. Associations like ours rely on people going the extra mile and we always could count on Madeleine. Good luck in your future world; we all wish you every success.

From my desk I hope your 2023 is going well; see you at an event coming to you soon.